Fujifilm To Ship Fourth Generation Super CCD

Elmsford, N.Y. - Fujifilm announced today that its new fourth-generation 'Super CCD' image sensor will debut in the company's digital cameras later this year.

The chip will be marketed in two different incarnations - the Super CCD HR and the Super CCD SR.

The Super CCD HR (high resolution) incorporates a total of 6.63 million pixels into a 1/1.7-inch chip thanks to advances in miniaturization. According to Fujifilm, digital cameras equipped with this imaging device can produce up to 12.3 million recording pixels, increasing image resolution, though the company did not indicate what the megapixel resolution on future digital cameras that incorporate the new chip would be.

Incorporating the same miniaturization technology as the HR version is the Super CCD SR (Super Dynamic Range). It also features a new configuration that produces approximately a four times wider dynamic range than the company's third-generation Super CCD. Also measuring 1 by 1.7 inches in size, the new Super CCD SR will incorporate 6.7 million total pixels (3.35 million S-pixels and 3.35 million R-pixels).

According to Fujifilm, the Super CCD SR produces a smooth and wide tonal range without losing detail in dark areas or washing out in bright areas.

Traditional digital cameras have difficulties reproducing high-contrast images containing both dark and bright areas, with dark areas tending to lose detail and whites washing out. Fujifilm's Super CCD was designed so that the photodiodes in each pixel could be larger, enhancing sensitivity and expanding dynamic range. The newly developed, fourth-generation Super CCD SR achieves a dynamic range approximately four times greater than its predecessor.

Fujifilm introduced its original Super CCD in 2000 to address a number of technical issues that plagued digital image reproduction. The second-generation Super CCD, introduced in 2001, focused on enhancing resolution even further while the third-generation Super CCD, introduced in 2002, aimed at light sensitivity.